So far today I don’t have a great deal to say but I do have apothegms. Here’s one. When you praise wealthy men because of what they do with their wealth, you’re not opposed to income inequality. You have specific things you want to accomplish and approve when the wealthy help to accomplish them. That’s instrumentalism not egalitarianism.
Not true. If a wealthy man is wealthy because of merit, that is egalitarianism w.r.t. merit, but is not socialism, which rewards those without merit while punishing those with merit.